What to Do When a Vigilante Lands on Your Roof
by fieryday
Summary: A one-shot about a regular person finding a vigilante on their roof.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in this except Shannon because I made her up. Everyone else belongs to their respective owners. **

Shannon Murphy's day had gone fairly well. She woke up to her alarm at six after only four hours of sleep, but that was nothing new in the realm of college students. She had turned in the essay that she had been working on until two the previous night and got back the results of her chemistry test. She had studied hard leading up to the test and seeing the hard work paid off with an eighty-eight percent was validating. That's not to say her day went perfectly. Shannon's friend cancelled their lunch date, and she had to clean up after a bunch of kids during her waitressing job. She had gotten good tips, though.

Shannon had helped close the restaurant tonight, so she didn't get back to her parent's apartment until after midnight. Her mother left the kitchen light on and a note on the counter stating that the leftovers from supper were in the fridge. Heating up the lasagna, she scrolled through her twitter. Tim Drake-Wayne had posted a picture of his coffee and college textbooks with the word, "Good-bye, sleep". Feeling a sense of comradery with the son of the billionaire, even if her family was strictly middle-class, she chuckled and retweeted it adding to it, "me last night."

After finishing her midnight snack, she pulled out her pack of cigarettes and lighter and headed to the fire escape. Her parents didn't let her smoke in the apartment, and truthfully Shannon hated the habit but it was just so damn hard to quit. She was gazing at the night sky and going over the important things she had to due next week such as going to the dentist and preparing for her midterms when she heard a thump from the roof of the apartment building. She craned her neck trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of one of Gotham's famous vigilantes, but she didn't hear any other noise. '_Could it be a crazy person? Or was something knocked over that was on the roof?'_ Shannon thought to herself. After finishing her cigarette and not hearing any other sounds, she went inside to grab the metal bat that her dad kept by the door just in case.

_'__It's probably nothing. Maybe one of the vigilantes landed weirdly and they're already gone. Maybe some kid is messing around. It's probably nothing.'_

Making her way to the roof access door, she braced herself and kept her phone handy to call the cops if there was a crazy on the roof that was trying to set up a bomb or something. Staring at the door, Shannon took a couple deep breaths before slowly opening the door and trying to peek around. It was hard to see in the dark, but it looked like there might have been someone lying on the roof. Hoisting the bat, she slowly crept closer until she made out the red helmet lying next to the person. With wide eyes, Shannon turned the flashlight on her cell phone on to see the Red Hood lying on her apartment rooftop.

_'__Holy fuck! What the fuck?! What should I do? Should I try to see if he's okay? What if he kills me? I've only ever heard about him shooting and killing criminals, though.'_

Everyone had heard rumors about how violent Red Hood was, and how many people he was suspected of killing. But at the same time, he was at least somewhat loosely tied to the Batman. Besides, it's not like she was a criminal. She had only gotten a speeding ticket once in her life. Caution, however, would not hurt to be employed.

Deciding not to actually touch him, she backed away a few feet. She hesitated on how to address him. "M-mister Red Hood, a-a-are you okay, sir?" she asked figuring it couldn't hurt to be polite. Being overly polite never hurt anyone. The vigilante didn't respond.

"Mister Red Hood, are you alright?" she called a bit louder. She got a response this time in the form of a groan and a slight twitch of his arm. She cautiously approached him trying to see if he'd maybe been injured.

"M-m-mister Red Hood, sir, i-is it alright if I check to see if your injured?" she asked slowly lowering herself until she was kneeling next to him. _'Okay, you can do this Shannon. Just try not to alarm the heavily armed vigilante, and hopefully his comrades won't think you're attacking him if they come across you,'_ Shannon thought trying to psych herself up.

"I-I-I'm ch-checking to see if you're in-in-injured right now, sir. P-P-Please don't attack or k-kill me, please," she said before heaving him over onto his back. Shannon pushed his brown leather jacket away from his torso to see if there were any tears or punctures in the body armor he wore.

"Whaa?" he groaned trying to lift his head; Shannon froze not wanting to make any sudden movements like he was a wild animal. He was wearing a domino mask, so Shannon couldn't tell if his eyes were focusing or not, but he quickly put his head back down and seemed to fall unconscious by the relaxing of his muscles.

Seeing that he didn't have any obviously injuries on his torso, arms, and legs; she moved to check his head for any blood or bumps that may indicate a concussion. He seemed to be sweating pretty hard which made it a bit gross to check the back of his head, but when she reached his forehead, she noticed he felt hot like he had a fever. _'Why would anyone go outside their bed or couch with that type of temperature? How did he even make it onto my rooftop? Does he live nearby?' _Shannon thought incredulously. _'Vigilantes are crazy.'_

Shannon looked around trying to see if there was another vigilante she could call out to for aid, but she couldn't see any shadows swinging in between buildings. Debating on whether she should call the police—_maybe they could contact Batman or someone_—she heard a static crackle in the direction of Red Hood. She looked closely and noticed an earpiece that could be some sort of communication device. Carefully extracting it and wiping it on her shirt, she held it up to her ear.

"—in, Red Hood. Do you hear me? Come in, Red Hood," a worried female voice stated.

"Um—" Shannon tried to think what to say.

"Who are you? What have you done to Red Hood?" the voice said sharply.

"I-I-I'm Shannon Murphy. I found Mister Red Hood on my apartment building roof. He-he seems to be running a high fever, but I didn't notice any other injuries," Shannon said in a rush so as not to face the wrath of anyone related to Batman. _'Please believe me! Please believe me!'_

"You're just a civilian? How did you know Red Hood was on your roof?" the voice said with computer keys clicking in the background.

"Y-Yes, I was smoking on the fire escape when I heard a thud. I grabbed my dad's bat to see if someone was doing something they shouldn't up here. What should I do?" Shannon asked panicking. She did not want to get on Batman's shit list. She didn't want to be on any list that Batman had. Shannon wanted a nice normal life without vigilantes being aware of her.

"It would be nice if you stayed up there with Red Hood to make sure he doesn't move, but I won't blame you if you want to head back to your apartment now. I've sent Batman and Red Robin to pick him up," the voice said kindly. Shannon paused to think about whether she wanted to pretend this never happened or get at least a glimpse of some of the infamous Bats. Her curiosity eventually won out.

"I'll stay, I guess. He hasn't really been conscious so…" Shannon trailed off, not sure if she should make idle conversation when the voice probably had other things to do.

"You said that it didn't look like he had any wounds and was running a fever it seemed?"

"Yeah, he's sweating, flushed, and his forehead's warm, but I didn't find any tears or punctures in what he was wearing. I'm not a doctor or anything so I could be wrong, but it seems like he's feverish," Shannon said a bit more confidant now that she had something to do.

"Okay, thank you for your help. Batman and Red Robin will be there in ten minutes. I'm updating them with your information now. If anything else happens you can raise me on the comm, but my attention is needed elsewhere right now," the voice said.

"Okay…I'm just happy I could help, I guess," Shannon trailed off. _'What should I do? Should I get him a blanket? What if Batman arrives while I'm gone and decides that's suspicious?'_ She checked the time. It was close to two o'clock. _'Looks like I won't be getting anymore sleep tonight than last night'._ She thought to herself a bit exasperated. She looked over at Red Hood, but he hadn't moved at all. She eventually decided to lean up against the wall and play games on her phone until help arrived.

Shannon didn't even really notice when they showed up. She was just checking to make sure Red Hood hadn't moved when she noticed the two new figures gathered by him. Her heart leapt in her chest and her phone clattered to the ground before she made out the lines of pointed ears on the cowl of the larger figure.

"Thank you for your help. You can go to bed now," Batman stated his voice coming out at a near growl. Shannon didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed her phone from where she dropped it in surprise and scampered to the roof door.

Once Shannon was in her apartment, she realized that she had left her dad's bat on the roof. _'Should I go get it now? I don't really want to face Batman again.'_ Deciding to pick the bat up in the morning, Shannon headed to bed where, hopefully, she wouldn't dream.

The next day Shannon woke up at six and made her way through her morning routine. On the way to the kitchen, she noticed her dad's bat leaning against the wall by the front door and a note on the coffee table in the living room. A bit weirded out Shannon edged closer to the note to read it.

_We found the bat on the ground and so we left it by the front door. Thanks for looking after Red Hood. He was just running a fever and is expected to make a full recovery. -RR_

"Bats are so creepy."

**A/N: I hope you liked this story. It is a one-shot with no sequel planned. This is also posted on my AO3 account, so if it looks familiar you might have seen it there.**

**Any constructive criticism and comments are welcome.**


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